Use of analgesic drugs and risk of ovarian cancer: results from a Danish case-control study.

OBJECTIVE

The role of analgesic drug use in development of ovarian cancer is not fully understood. We examined the association between analgesic use and risk of ovarian cancer. In addition, we examined whether the association differed according to histological types.

DESIGN

Population-based case-control study.

SETTING

Denmark in the period 1995-1999.

POPULATION

We included 756 women with epithelial ovarian cancer and 1564 randomly selected control women aged 35-79 years.

METHODS

Information on analgesic drug use was collected from personal interviews. Analgesic drugs were divided into the following categories: any analgesics; aspirin; non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; paracetamol; and other analgesic drugs. The association between analgesic drug use and ovarian cancer risk was analysed using multiple logistic regression models. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Epithelial ovarian cancer.

RESULTS

Women with a regular use of any analgesics (OR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.62 - 1.01) or aspirin (OR = 0.68; 95% CI 0.46 - 1.02) had a decreased risk of ovarian cancer, although not statistically significant. Regular use of non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, paracetamol or other analgesics did not decrease ovarian cancer risk. Use of any analgesics (OR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.53-0.98) or aspirin (OR = 0.60; 95% CI 0.36-1.00) resulted in a statistically significant decreased risk of serous ovarian cancer but not mucinous or other ovarian tumors.

CONCLUSION

In accordance with most previous studies, our results indicate a possible inverse association between analgesic use, particularly aspirin, and ovarian cancer risk.